1939–1945: (Africa in the Second World War — African Colonies Again Drawn into European Conflict as Sources of Men and Materials, Egypt Vital to British Stra…

1939–1945: (Africa in the Second World War — African Colonies Again Drawn into European Conflict as Sources of Men and Materials, Egypt Vital to British Strategy with Armored Vehicles Surrounding Cairo Government Buildings in 1942 Not for Protection but Surveillance, South Africa Narrowly Voting for War, and French African Territories Declaring for De Gaulle After Initial Vichy Loyalty): As in 1914–1918, the Second World War saw African colonies drawn into what was primarily a European conflict, and once again the continent was a crucial source of men and materials for the colonial powers involved — chiefly Britain, France, and Italy. The British depended heavily on their African territories, recruiting men from both west and east Africa and relying on agricultural produce and industrial output. Egypt was of vital importance to British geopolitical strategy owing to the Suez Canal — Egyptian nationalism was a constant source of anxiety in London, and even while German tanks rumbled into the Western Desert in 1942, British armored vehicles surrounded government buildings in Cairo not to protect them but to keep surveillance on the movements within. South Africa was a partial exception: under the Statute of Westminster of 1931 there was no constitutional obligation to join the war, and a significant Afrikaner minority lobbied for neutrality, with some tacit sympathy for Nazism, but the government under Smuts secured a parliamentary declaration of war by the narrowest margin. France was in a different position — the June 1940 armistice placed the French African empire in an ambiguous and dangerous situation, with territorial governors initially offering loyalty to Vichy before the colonies at length declared for de Gaulle’s Free French movement, providing vital strategic and material support. Italy, the only Axis power with African territory, made extensive use of Eritrean-recruited troops and from its East African empire eyed Sudan and Kenya, but Italian aggression proved short-lived as its armies were defeated relatively swiftly in 1941–1942.